Dr Gloom

Taylor was crap against city

is Remy an attacking midfielder?

If Smith wasn't purchased we could have used the £6m on a player we actually needed. As regard to N'Zogbia, it seems Sam prefers him as a left back over the £6M paniard adn would rather go with 3 cloggers in midfield instead of lining up with width. The Sky pundits were spot on yesterday - if you play 4-3-3, you need one of your 3 central midfielders to support the front man. I imagined Smith might do that job but so far none of them are doing it

I always fancied Sven over big Sam. Wouldn't surprise me at all if City finish above us.

in fts and starts. one thing, he hasn't been as consistently rubbish and at least offers something in terms of creativity, unlike our current midfield cloggers Really? Really. A midfield of him and Butt performed better than anything else we've put out there since 2004/05. I wonder how long Allardyce can continue with the negative midfield of Smith, Butt and Geremi? Occasionally. Ok, even I think that Emre is on paper the normally better midfield player. I also don't rate Smith very much and said so in the past. I also would play Emre ahead of Smith in central Midfield (as on the wing Emre has been totally shite himself). But I do think that a lot of performances of Emre in the past were of the very same standard of what Smith is producing at the moment. Late tacklings, yellow cards and loads of misplaced passes with hardly any positive contribution to the game. Hopefully Barton is fit next week and we see neither in the first team. True but at least he occasionally offers something going forward, unlike Smith, Geremi and Butt

in fts and starts. one thing, he hasn't been as consistently rubbish and at least offers something in terms of creativity, unlike our current midfield cloggers Really? Yes. I remember him having the odd good game for us. Smith is yet to have one

in fts and starts. one thing, he hasn't been as consistently rubbish and at least offers something in terms of creativity, unlike our current midfield cloggers

Because it's annoying. get a grip matt

Smith was awful, again. Geremi was worse. Milner tried but was generally poor. Viduka started well but looked like he lost the fight/bottle when their second went in. Complete no show from him second half. N'Zogbia was wasted at left back. When is sam going to start starting enrique and move zog up to his proper position? Oba looked lively again. He should start along viduka next game instead of out wide.

because i'm lazy. why do you care? and, no.

Surely he should start ahead of one of smith, Geremi or Butt? we threatened at times today but it was mostly down the flanks. There was NO creativity or forward runs from central midfield. If we're going to continue with a 4-3-3, one of those 3 has to be dropped for the next game to make way for Emre or eventually barton. If we move to a 4-4-2, Zoggy should start at left wing and Enrique in at left back with Smith on the bench where he belongs.

dunno if i'd be happy with 12th like

he's no worse than Robinson and James

he had three glorious chances. the first one was well saved by the keeper. the second one he ballooned over the bar when well set. the third one was probably the worst miss. he rounded the keeper then hit a really tame shot into an open goal, the lack of pace on the shot allowing sendaros to get back and clear off the line. overall though i thought he was our biggest attackign threat. shame he didn't have anyone alongside him until the last 5 minutes of the game. leading the line and winning long balls in the air isn't his strong point...

got to agree to disagree then. on this season's evidence i haven't seen anything to convince me that he can do a good enough job in midfield I was agreeing with you man!

got to agree to disagree then. on this season's evidence i haven't seen anything to convince me that he can do a good enough job in midfield

To prove you right? no - because we don't need him. i wish i was wrong but i don't see what he offers as a midfielder or as our vice captain. I still think he'll turn out to be a good player for us. He's struggling wide-right though as I think we all agree. I actually think we do need him too, mainly because of his versatility. i wouldn't mind him as back up striker but sam seems to view him as a first choice midfielder and 5th choice centre forward. it's all well being versatile - it is useful to for any squad to have players that can play a number of different roles - but he keeps being picked in positions where, in my opinion, he contributes little.

To prove you right? no - because we don't need him. i wish i was wrong but i don't see what he offers as a midfielder or as our vice captain.

If he had a bit of luck he could have scored have scored 3 last night. I still think he is a valuable player to have in a pool of 4 strikers. So do I. I don't think he's that good though. He's lively, pacy and likely to produce the occasional bit of brilliance. He's also inconsistent and has a poor touch and movement though. I concede we'd have been fucked without him last season and I'm glad we've got him for the upcoming games too. the problem last night is he was asked to play up front on his own and like owen he needs a player alongside him to win the flick-ons. but he was still by far our most lively attacking player despite being deprived of service throughout the match. shocking finishing though. our midfield looked horrible at times yesterday - so sloppy and pedestrian. we were basically playing a 4-5-1 with smith, feye and n'zogbia in the centre with shola on the left and milner on the right.

we should sell smith in january

i watched smith closely tonight. all he does is give the ball away. absolutely shocking player. we were far too cautious against a young arsenal side. martins was isolated up front for pretty much the whole game. shola was terrible on the left and zoggy was wasted in the middle of a 4-3-3. as soon as they scored we pushed smith alongside martins and straight away created our first real chance of the second half - i think we might have got a result if we'd been more adventurous from the outset. faye impressed and should be challenging butt now for the defensive midfield role.

pens i think

That's because you've been fuckin shite, Alan. has he really been worse than he was on sunday?

i wonder if leazesmag is available to comment in their absence

no martins?